


reset the clock

by justasuperfan



Series: everything i didn’t say [9]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse, Basically allison and luther are assholes, Five and Diego and Klaus, Five arrives a day late, Gen, He’s injured, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Oh yeah Ben and Dave too, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25583737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justasuperfan/pseuds/justasuperfan
Summary: in which five escapes the commission and lands in the mansion a day later than in the show. which means diego and klaus have to find vanya and kill harold jenkins together.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Dave/Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Diego Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves
Series: everything i didn’t say [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841560
Comments: 30
Kudos: 372





	1. the boy is back

All Five could think as he was thrown out of a portal right onto the bar was _OUCH._

His side flared with fresh pain, like icy water so cold that it burned. Tears sprung to his eyes and he kept them closed as he breathed. His numb fingers clutched the briefcase he’d managed to grab right before the explosion. The very one that had embedded shards of glass into his stomach and rendered him immoble for the moment. He really hoped that no one would be watching when he opened his eyes. And he really hoped he’d chosen a good date to come back to his siblings. He’d already spent too long at the Commission. But, like the Handler had always said, time is meaningless when it’s at the mercy of your fingertips.

As much as he hated to agree with her, she was right. Time meant nothing to him as long as he could jump from decade to decade.

Five’s eyelids fluttered open and he was greeted by a deserted living room. Luckily for his aching head, it was completely silent. Which would’ve been welcome any other day, but instead he was wary. When had his siblings ever been quiet? At least after Dad died.

Using even a little bit of strength made the pain in his side shoot up and down his body, but he somehow managed to roll off the table and land unceremoniously on the floor. Fortunately, he’d been lucky enough to miss the two barstools that he laid between. Unfortunately, the landing had thrown a whole new pain through his spine, and the loud thud had alerted someone judging by the footsteps on the stairs. 

Five didn’t think he could move from his spot, even as the footsteps got closer and were accompanied by Diego’s frantic yelling. He managed to open his eyes a second time. The ceiling spun above him. He knew he needed medical attention, but he would never admit that. Especially since the apocalypse was in however many days there were left. He wasn’t sure of anything.

Diego’s face popped into his vision. “Five?” He asked from a million miles away. Five almost laughed. Fitting he should escape the Commission a second time, only to be so far from his siblings again. 

Next came Klaus, who had his hands on his knees as he knelt over Five. “Oh, hey Fivey, what’s up. Glad you could join us.” Klaus had a bright smile on his face and he kept turning to his side, where no one was standing. Five couldn’t be worrying about that, though. He turned his attention to Diego and realized that their faces were suddenly much closer to him. They’d apparently lifted him off the floor and he hadn’t noticed. That couldn’t be good. 

“Fine.” He muttered. Why did his tongue weigh a hundred pounds? And why were his eyelids suddenly so heavy? 

“Oh, you are most certainly not fine. What happened?” Diego remarked. His voice was so far away that Five actually did laugh this time. Yeah, something was definitely very wrong.

“Date.” 

Diego squinted at him, but answered anyway. “March 30th. Now what happened, and where were you for two days? We were worried about you.”

Five had a hard time believing that. But he had bigger problems. The apocalypse was in _two days_. Shit. Where was everyone, anyways? The last thing he needed was for them to disappear when the world was about to end. He could just travel back to the funeral, or a few days before so he could get his siblings’ shit together, but that might erase too many important events. Plus, the briefcase was just out of his reach. As much damage as he knew it would do, he felt his fingers itching to have it. At least just to know it was safe.

“Irrelevant.” Was all he managed to say before the world twisted into a dark abyss.

…

“...can’t just leave him, he’s hurt!”

“Well what do you suggest? We can’t help him anymore than Mom has.”

“At least try to help. You haven’t been doing much of that since he came back.”

“Boys! Stop fighting, please.. Now, I’m going to go make cookies. When I get back, I expect this room to be peaceful.”

“Sorry, Mom.”

“Yeah, sorry, Mom.”

Five grimaced as all the voices penetrated his calming sleep. They were too loud, too sharp, too annoying. But as he tried to voice his thoughts, something else occurred to him. His side wasn’t exploding in pain anymore, and his back was only dully throbbing. He smiled. Mom must have fixed him up, or at least used enough painkillers to take the edge off. That didn’t help his pounding head, though, so he finished opening his eyes. “She’s right, shut the fuck up.” 

“Five?” Klaus looked up at him from where he was tracing patterns on his leather pants. “Hey, pal. How’s it going?”

“Just wonderful. I definitely didn’t almost die for the fifth time this week, thanks for asking.” He shot back.

“Damn, you really recovered fast. Also, how do you have time to almost die so many times? I barely have time to do my nails!” Klaus whined, fake pouting from his seat across from Five’s bed. 

Diego stood roughly and Five felt himself shrinking under his brother’s gaze. He wasn’t exactly sure why. “Why didn’t you tell us you were basically shot?!”

Five just shrugged. He had been training his stoicism for years, and he wasn’t going to stop just because Diego was being dramatic. “Look, I duped the Commission and managed to destroy their two most vital rooms. I don’t have time to deal with your stupid ass. We need to stop the apocalypse before they come after us.”

“Okay, yeah, just one problem. You’re injured, Allison and Luther are in LA, Vanya hasn’t come home from her boyfriend’s house yet, and Diego and I can’t stop the end of the world by ourselves.”

“Wait, Luther and Allison are where?! Why?! We’re all going to die in two days and they take a vacation?!” Five felt his ears get hot as he fumed. He’d always known those two morons would run away together sometime. He just hadn’t expected them to be so stupid as to do it now. He balled the sheets in his fists.

“Uh, about that. We only have a day left. It’s March 31st.” Diego shrugged.

“WHAT?!” Five was literally going to combust. He had to go back a day. It wouldn’t harm anything. Except for him, of course. Except...he didn’t think he could, unless he got the briefcase. That was a matter to discuss later.

“Calm down. I’m sure we can get them to come back and solve all of this. But we don’t need them anyways!” Klaus tried, then turned to somewhere next to him and spoke, “Yeah, my brother and sister. They’re in love. Don’t question it.”

“Who the fuck are you talking to?!” Diego yelled. Apparently he’d picked up on Five’s foul mood. And he had reason to.

Klaus smiled. “Oh, right! Five, I went to Vietnam and met the hottest man in all of history. His name is Dave, and I conjured him last night! Yay!” He clapped softly and beamed in the empty space Five assumed Dave was standing. “He says you’re groovy.”

Diego and Five shared a look. Then brushed it off.

“Hi, Dave. Why on Earth do you like my brother? Anyways, we need to find Vanya. She could be in danger. And then we need to figure out who Harold Jenkins is. He causes the apocalypse. And we have one day to go it, so let’s go.” He threw off the covers and stepped out of bed, but immediately felt a jolt of pain reverberate up his spine. He ignored it. If he wanted to save all of humanity, he had to power through the stupid pain. He’d felt much worse. He could do this.

“Is that really a good idea?” Klaus asked. “That’s what Ben says at least.”

“Good to know,” He replied through gritted teeth while testing his weight on one foot. He could walk, but putting pressure on his right leg shot pain into his shrapnel wound. “It’s not a bad injury. Now come on, we have to leave.”

He saw Diego and Klaus share a glance behind his back, but they apparently decided to go with his plan. “Shouldn’t you change first?”

Five looked down and noticed he was wearing the silk white pajamas he’d remembered having as a kid. He groaned and blinked behind them, mostly to make sure his powers still worked. He stumbled out of the portal, but it was otherwise fine. The two brothers left the room as Five changed into the standard Umbrella Academy uniform. When his shirt was off, he caught a glimpse of his wound. He hadn’t seen it before. It was cleaned off and stitched up, but it looked like a bullet had pierced his side. He grimaced and pulled his shirt over it. When he was finished, he opened the door and the three—five, including Ben and Dave—of them went down to the car.

First, to find Vanya. He hoped she was okay. He didn’t want to lose her again.

Five felt himself nodding off as they drove to the library to find Leonard’s address. Five had been the only one to remember his sister’s boyfriend’s name, and he had been gone half the time. Which just went on to show how little the Hargreeves cared about Vanya. Maybe it was ingrained in their brains from all the years training without her, or maybe it was just their selfishness catching up to them. Either way, he wished Ben was still alive so they could protect her together. As much as Klaus cared about everyone, he didn’t have as close a relationship to Vanya as he and Ben did. Klaus hadn’t spend countless nights staying awake with her after nightmares or harsh training. He hadn’t drawn comics and read books with her.

Someone’s hand was on his shoulder and he batted it away, groggily coming back to the real world. He looked outside the window, but instead of the library, he saw a small brick house. Where were they? Had they gotten Leonard’s address already? Klaus’s face appeared in front of him and he flinched, hitting his head on the headrest. Rubbing the back of his head, he fixed his brother with a glare. “What the hell, Klaus?!”

He just smiled. “Sorry, Sleeping Beauty. We went into the library without you since you were out cold, and found his address. Diego figured you could blink in and look around if you’re feeling up to it.”

“Ugh, fine.” He groaned as he straightened his posture. “Next time, wake me up before you do the important shit.”

“You need the rest.” Diego grunted from the drivers’ seat. 

Five just rolled his eyes. What did Diego know about resting? He probably skipped sleeping most nights to fight crime and get into fights. And Five wasn’t about to rest when half his siblings were missing and the apocalypse was _tomorrow._ He hadn’t spent decades clawing his way back to his siblings only to be thrown back in the pit. He needed to travel back another day, but even with the briefcase, he didn’t know how his injuries would react to more pressure being put on them. Even his spatial jumps were becoming riskier as his stitches threatened to tear. Since he was basically throwing himself through time and space, and it felt like rearranging hid molecules one by one, he knew it wouldn’t do any good to time travel at the moment. Still, if worse came to worst, he would have to try.

“I’m going in. If I’m not out in five minutes, go look for Vanya yourselves.” He didn’t let his siblings say a word before he blinked inside the house.

It was your standard two-story house, living room to the right of the front entrance and a kitchen beyond that. Five figured it was a little too big for someone to live in alone. Then again, Mom, Pogo, and Reginald had lived in the 43-roomed house for years after all his siblings had left. Plus, he couldn’t judge. He would kill for so much space to himself. Which wasn’t saying much. He would kill for a lot of things. Including a way home. He shivered in the sudden chill.

After he’d deduced Leonard wasn’t home by the lack of his car and horrified reaction to Five appearing in his house, he began wandering the halls and calling for his sister. He noticed blood on the bathroom tiles when he pushed the door opened. Which could’ve meant a few different things. But Five had seen enough blood in his lifetime to know the difference. And this blood was definitely from either a gunshot or a stab wound. 

“Vanya?” He called again, pushing open a bedroom door and limping inside. There was nothing except for a dresser, a neatly made bed, and a book lying open on the floor. Five knelt down after a few winces of pain and placed a hand on the fluttering pages. It was his father’s handwriting, his stupid messy cursive that was sometimes impossible to read. 

_Number Four:_

_-His fear of the dead must be overcome. Locking him in the mausoleum only seemed to make things worse, which shall be amended when I test a new method of training._

_-His reaction to his power shall be his downfall…_

“No, this can’t be right…” Five muttered, flipping through the pages. And there they all were. He snuck glances at the writing in between wondering how on Earth this book had made its way to that house. _Number One… greatest success… follows orders blindly…_

_Number Two… must fix unnecessary stutter… somewhat defiant…_

_Number Three… willingly complies… great power…_

_Number Five… defiant, inflated sense of self… will destroy him someday._

Five gritted his teeth. He despised admitting it, but the old man was right. His ego and his defiance had betrayed him. He’d never forget the day he ran out of the house in a fit of impatience and rage.

_Number Six… horrifying powers… must keep an eye out…_

_Number Seven… must keep sedated… very dangerous._

Wait, what?

He read the page and sat back in shock. There was no way. Vanya had powers? All this time, the rest of the siblings and their father had treated her like dirt because she wasn’t like them. But this whole time, she’d been special? And he’d hidden her powers? His fists clenched as he stood, favoring his left side. That’s when he looked up and saw none other than Leonard Peabody standing in the doorway.

“What are you doing here?”

Five smiled forcefully. He knew this man had his sister. With the book in plain sight, she’d probably found it and figured out he’d stolen it. Unless…Vanya had stolen it? No, she wouldn’t do such a thing. Unless she was desperate enough. His smile faded fast. “Well, what a surprise. I’m Vanya’s brother.” He introduced, his voice hiding a hidden venom. There was no way Vanya had stolen anything. So this man, with his stupid face, must have done it.

Five’s eyes trailed to the man’s face, and then he froze.

One eye was covered with a patch. And his remaining eye had the same color as the glass one Five had been studying for years.

This was the man who started the apocalypse.

“You son of a bitch!” He screamed, and then blinked right onto the man’s back. The second he landed, he began pounding the back of Leonard’s head, slamming his fist down over and over again. He didn’t care if it was unprofessional. He wanted this guy dead. He’d been the one to trap him in the wasteland for years. He’d been the one to ruin Five’s entire life. So he punched and punched him until the man fell to his knees, pleading. Five blinked in front of him and saw tears in the man’s remaining eye. “You caused the apocalypse.” Five finished, getting in one last punch to Leonard’s nose.

A pathetic sob came from the man’s mouth. “Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to help your sister!”

“Like hell you are.” Five responded. He fumed and grabbed a gun from his pocket. He was surprised his brothers hadn’t seen him smuggling it into the car. 

He raised the gun towards Leonard’s head, blinked behind him, and screamed in rage as he began beating him over the head with it. He wasn’t going to let the starter of the apocalypse off easy. A simple shot to the head would kill him instantly, and Five wanted him to suffer like he had during the half a century he’d spent alone and then trained to be a killing machine. 

Someone pulled him back. Two someones, actually. Five kicked against their grip and they let him go after letting him tire himself out. “Christ on a cracker, are you insane?! This is Vanya’s boyfriend, psycho!” Klaus yelled, running to Leonard’s side. 

“What were you thinking?!” Diego added, grabbing Five’s shoulders and staring him down.

Five caught his breath for a moment. He was too enraged to speak. But then the words tumbled out. “He causes the goddamn apocalypse.”

…

When they found Vanya in Leonard’s car not long after, she explained everything. How she’d found the stolen book and confronted Leonard, only to be taken to a remote house while unconscious in his car. Since she didn’t know where she was or how to get home, she’d had no choice but to stay while Leonard fed her lies for two days. Then, the man had decided that Vanya actually believed him, and began taking her back to the house when he’d been beaten senseless by Five. Vanya had had to keep up the act that she was fooled by him until the last minute. Which, Five guessed, explained why she hadn’t left the car.

Diego and Klaus helped him walk to their own car that was still running on the street. He’d expended all the energy he’d somehow still had on killing Leonard Peabody. The man was dead. Somehow, Five knew this had to mean the apocalypse was off. Could it really be that easy?

No. Nothing in life ever was. So what was he missing?

It only hit him by the time they arrived at the mansion. The Commission would want them for this. And they would find a way to cause the apocalypse, no matter what it took. He expected their goons to arrive within days, if not hours.

The apocalypse was still on, unless they could take down the bosses of time itself.

_To: Hazel and Cha-Cha_

_Time: March 31, 2019_

_Reassignment:_

_Terminate all Hargreeves siblings. Leave Vanya Hargreeves untouched._


	2. i don’t invite the headrush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which certain assassins shoot up the house, and the four siblings have to find a way out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long to get out, i haven’t been in a writing mood lately and i was watching season 2–which is AMAZING btw! i do have more ideas based off of season 2, so i might add more to this series or start a new one. so sorry about the long waits coming up.

The second they got back in the house, Five was blinking to his room despite his exhaustion. He grabbed the chalk off his floor and stood on his bed to begin writing on the wall. He had to figure out when the Commission would be able to figure out what they’d done, assemble a squadron, and try to fix the timeline. Or maybe Hazel and Cha-Cha would come to find them. Either way, the Commission had to already know the apocalypse was averted. What they would do to fix it was up to the Handler, and Five hated not knowing what was going to happen.

He’d warned his siblings in the car what might happen, but they’d just brushed him off. If they’d placed another tracker on him, then maybe they would come to kill him. But how would they track him?

Oh. Oh shit.

Five dropped the chalk and instantly began rummaging through his pockets. The only thing he’d taken from his time back in that building were the candies, so they could be the only things the Handler tracked him with. Unless she wasn’t tracking him at all. Still, he unwrapped all the candies and found a blinking green tracker buried in one of them. “Neat trick, not going to work.” He dropped the tracker and stomped on it.

Right as a thud echoed in the front hall. If it were any of his siblings, which were already in the house, the slam would’ve been followed with senseless bickering. Which meant someone was after them.

Should he play it safe and quiet to get everyone out—which was an iffy plan at best—or attack and kill the assassins? Which was also iffy. What if there was an entire unit after them? What if he got killed instantly? What if one of his siblings died? He winced. He’d never forgive himself if that happened.

So he did the only reasonable thing. He blinked into Diego’s room, nearly tripping over his feet as he landed, and shushed his brother as he opened his mouth to speak. “Someone’s in the house.” Five whispered, then blinked to the stairwell and crouched behind Mom’s charging station to see who was there. Of course, Hazel and Cha-Cha were arguing quietly while moving through the house with their guns at the ready. Why were they sent back? Hadn’t they failed miserably the first time?

Five blinked into Vanya's room and warned her, then to Klaus. By that time, he pretty much fell out of the portal. His shrapnel would stung mercilessly, and his back was beginning to ache again. Funny how the only reason he’d liked his child body was that he didn’t have any pains, and then he did. More than usual, this time.

He jumped back behind Mom’s charging station and his siblings ran to join him after a moment. “Why are they here?” Vanya whispered. Her eyes were wide and her voice shaky. Five wanted to comfort her, but he still didn’t really know how to interact with people, so he refrained. What was the point of trying when he knew he would fail?

“They want to start the apocalypse again.” Five explained.

Diego grabbed a knife and looked over at the rest of them. “Let’s go kill the assholes.” Five noticed he looked at Klaus right after that with an apology written all over his face. 

Five didn’t have time to worry about that. “No. We’re getting out of here. Someone could get hurt if we stay.”

Diego scoffed. “Since when do you care about other people and not killing? Let’s just get them.”

“No—Diego—” He started, but his brother was already jumping up and throwing two knives towards the assassins. One hit Cha-Cha in the shoulder, and the other stabbed Hazel in the back of his knee. That had to hurt. “Ugh, fine.” He mumbled as he blinked to his room to grab his gun.

A torrent of gunfire rang in his ears. That couldn’t be good. He grabbed the gun from under his pillow and blinked back to the charging station. There was only one problem: The portal didn’t spit him out where he’d wanted to go. He landed right in the middle of the upstairs where his siblings were hiding and the two deadly assassins. On top of that, the second he became aware of his surroundings, his knees buckled and he was thrown to the ground.

“Well that’s great.” He mumbled against the floor, and then tried blinking back to the charging station. This time, he landed where he wanted to, but immediately fell to the ground in front of Klaus and Vanya.

Then his body simply stopped responding.

Fuck.

“Five? Are you okay?” Vanya asked. She sounded like she was in pain, which scared Five. Had she been shot? 

“Tired,” He breathed, letting his eyes slip closed. But then he remembered he had to be awake, so he could protect his siblings. God, it would be so easy just to fall asleep and let them worry about it. But they wouldn’t last two seconds without him.

The loud gunfire and screams if rage woke him up anyways. He grunted as he sat up. Everything hurt, and he was too exhausted to teleport. So his gaze slid to his gun. He’d been trained for years to be the perfect killing machine, the perfect tool to keep the timeline on schedule. He ignored all the warnings his body shot at him and grabbed the gun in shaky hands. 

If he was good for nothing else, at least he could kill.

Five wasn’t sure if he could stand, so he began shooting through the railing with pinpoint accuracy. The way his hands felt all the grooves and bumps of the weapon felt almost nostalgic. The repetitive pulsing of the trigger and the weight of the gun resting on his shoulder was like a lost friend, and all his movements were almost instinct. He wasn’t sure if his bullets even made it where he wanted them to go, but he kept shooting. 

Someone screamed and he winced in sympathy pain. No matter how apathetic he seemed, he still did have feelings buried deep down. When he turned, the emotions deep inside of him threatened to claw their way out. Blood stained the carpet and Vanya was clutching the space between her chest and her shoulder with a mix of panic and fear highlighting her face. Five felt his stomach sink and he turned to Diego. “We have to get out!”

“No way!” His brother called back through gritted teeth.

“Vanya’s _hurt._ And I know these guys, they’ll work through any pain if it means they can kill us. If we don’t leave now, we’re all dead.”

After a minute, Diego sighed and his knives flew back to his hands. He turned and lifted Vanya, grunting from the effort. Five somehow managed to scramble to his feet, biting back a scream, and followed them with his head low so he wouldn’t be shot. The brothers scrambled through the house as gunfire echoed behind them. Klaus covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, which was something Five assumed was aftermath from his time travelling. 

“You idiot, they said not to hurt Vanya!”

Five paused before he kept on running and ignoring the sting in his side and the fuzziness in his head. Why wouldn’t they want to hurt Vanya? She wasn’t the one to cause the apocalypse, was she? He shook it off and kept following his brothers until they made it to the window. 

“We have to get out here. If we go downstairs, they’ll kill us.” Diego explained. Five nodded and grabbed Vanya’s hand.

“Get out by yourselves.” He said right as he used up the last of his energy to blink him and an unconscious Vanya outside. He watched from the ground as Diego gave him the middle finger. And then he set his head against the road and finally rested his powers.

…

An hour later, after much debate (“We can’t go back, they’re still in there!” “Well I’m homeless, we don’t know where Vanya’s apartment is, and Five is a child!” “Hey!” “Just stating the facts, brother dear.” “Why don’t we just crash at my place?”), the four of them ended up at Diego’s room, Vanya claiming the bed and Five the couch. As much as he hated to admit it, Diego’s room was cozy. No one bothered him and he kept it clean enough. Except for the annoying radio listing off crimes, it was peaceful. Which was just what Five needed to fall asleep.

There was only one problem.

_“You all died.”_

He suddenly remembered why he’d always tried to stay awake all night.

_Luther’s eyes were shut and covered in a layer of ash. His hand was closed around a glass eyeball that Five pried from his grasp and inspected, trying not to throw up. It didn’t even look like Luther. But who else would be so muscular and have the Umbrella Academy tattoo?_

_He saw Allison next. She still had her curly hair and the hands that Five had seen hold Luther’s so many times. He shivered and looked over to see what looked to be Klaus, then Diego. The knives strapped to his chest were kind of a dead giveaway._

_But no Vanya or Ben, the only ones he knew would be able to help him. He felt a sob tear through his mouth as he looked around the ashy wasteland. What he wouldn’t give to see his family again, to save him from the same fate he had so unfortunately met. He had to get back to them, and fast. He had to save them._

Voices. The apocalypse never had voices. So that was what woke him up.

He stayed laying down but opened his eyes just enough to see Klaus leaning over Vanya and cleaning her wound. 

“It’s not like I wanted to stay, you know? But I couldn’t leave. Not without Dave. So I just...waited for the right time. But there never was one. He died before we could escape.” Five furrowed his brow. Who was Dave? He assumed Klaus was talking about an ex-boyfriend, but then it came to him. Maybe he’d time traveled and met this Dave, then came back once he died. Which was why he’d been so shaken up.

“I’m so sorry, Klaus.”

“Eh. People come, people go.” Klaus was obviously lying. The hurt was so evident in his voice.

It was quiet for a minute. And then Vanya said, “I thought Leonard cared about me. He was the first person to actually include me in anything, to make me think I was special.” Five frowned. Hadn’t he tried to do that his whole childhood with Vanya? Except...he left. God, he was so stupid. Maybe if he had just listened to the old man for once, things would’ve been fine. “And turns out, he was a lying piece of shit just like everyone else.”

“Look, Van, I know it was hard on you, but we all care about you. We all believe in you. And whatever secret power you learned from this asshole, you can build on it without him.” Klaus replied. Five felt an ache in his heart. He wanted to be the one to comfort his old best friend, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to find the words. Forty-five years alone kind of did that to you.

“I guess. Sorry, I kind of made things all about me again.”

“No, no, it’s fine, I needed to get my mind off it anyway.”

After the silence became palpable, Five decided to pretend to wake up and sat up on the couch. His back didn’t ache anymore, and his shrapnel wound was only a dull pounding in his side. He sighed, relieved. But then he looked around. Where was Diego?

“Hey guys, where’s the spandex-wearing maniac?”

Klaus laughed, and turned to his older brother. “Not even a good morning.”

“It’s night.”

“Whatever. Knife man went to the grocery. Apparently, the only food he has in here is old cabbage.” Klaus wrinkled his nose. “What a loser, am I right?”

Vanya giggled. “How you feeling?” Five asked her.

“Better. Klaus said it’s not too serious, but I still need to recover.”

That’s when they heard the phone ringing. Klaus picked it up.

…

“Hey daddio, this is Diego’s dear brother speaking.”

The Handler rolled her eyes. Of course the incompetent one should pick up the phone. “Yes, well, my name is the Handler. I work for the Commission. We have your brother, Diego, and if you ever want to see him again, you’ll meet me at the motel at 8:45.” Before the man could speak another word, she ended the call and sat back in her chair.

A devious smile lit up her face. She would kill Five for what he did, and it would be slow and torturous. She turned to the man in black sitting unconscious across from her. Her ticket to murder.


	3. brought my words to a fistfight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> five and klaus go to find their brother...when the unthinkable happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: death, gunshots, suicidal thoughts, ptsd and drug talk. (sorry for not adding trigger warning on my other works and chapters, i’ll get right on that)

Klaus set down the phone slowly with a look of shock on his face. Five had never seen him so serious, except for when he’d come back from his time travelling detour. His brother turned to him and Vanya and then ran his hands over his face with a loud groan. 

“I have no idea what the fuck that lady was talking about, but I am not up for another goddamn adventure. Can’t I just relax? Snort some cocaine?”

Five’s eyes went wide. “What lady? What did she say?”

“Something about the mission, Diego, 8:45. Can’t we just leave him there? He’s annoying anyways.”

“The Commission.”

Shit shit shit. So they weren’t done with them. He should’ve known. He should’ve protected his family like he’d been trying to do all those years in the apocalypse. _He should have protected them._

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Cocaine, anyone? Cigarettes? Anything?” Klaus prodded, which earned a halfhearted smile from their sister. Five rubbed the back of his neck. Maybe they hadn’t been sent to kill him. If they really wanted the siblings dead, Diego would already be long gone. So why were they trying to negotiate?

Five wouldn’t let them win. The one thing he’d come back for was to save his family, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

“Where did she ask us to meet her?”

“The motel. Which is stupid. There’s like six motels in this crappy city!”

Five stood from the couch and limped to the door. “I’m going to get him. What time is it?”

“8:09,” Vanya replied.

“Okay…if I’m not back by 9:00 then get out of this city, you hear me? And when they come after you, do whatever it takes to stop the apocalypse.”

“Oh ho ho, no way.” Klaus started towards him. Five backed up as his brother towered over him, which wouldn’t be a problem if he wasn’t stuck looking like a child. “You’re not doing this hero stuff Diego does all the time. I’m coming with you.”

“Me too.” Vanya tried to stand but sat right back down on the bed.

Five sighed. “Vanya, as much as I want you there, you’re injured. We can’t risk it.”

“But—”

He cut her off with a silencing finger. “You stay here. We’ll need you in case something happens.”

Without another word, the two brothers turned and left the room.

…

Five drove, since Klaus had gotten his license taken away, and was also probably drunk or high. And the entire time, images kept forcing themselves through his brain of that horrible woman with the bleached curls and condescending smile holding a gun to his brother’s head.

As much as Five pretended like he hated Diego, he really did care for all his siblings. He had spent half a century trying to get back to them and save them, and he didn’t want to lose them again. And Diego, that dumbass with a boatload of knives and an authority problem, was one of the people he cared about most in the world. And he would not let anything happen to him. 

“So where is Batman exactly?” Klaus asked as he fiddled with his dog tags.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure. You said the motel? I’m willing to bet Hazel and Cha-Cha have him, then.”

“Mm.” That wasn’t like his brother. Klaus kept talking and talking until his voice gave out, which was why Five hated to leave his room. He needed quiet. As much as he hated to be alone, all he knew how to do was be lonely.

“Is something wrong?” Five asked, hoping he wouldn’t regret it.”

“Oh, no, no, nothing’s...wrong.” Five turned to Klaus and raised his eyebrow. Klaus sighed. “Yeah, okay, something is wrong, I’ll admit. It’s just...when I time traveled, I went to Vietnam. Served for almost a whole year. And I...met someone.”

“What was their name?”

Klaus smiled down at the dog tags. “His name was Dave. And he was the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”

Five had never been good at feelings. He had never been good at talking in general. Whenever Delores asked him something, he tried to make the conversation quick and easy. No depth, no secrets spilled, no worries. So he let Klaus do all the talking. “You know what it’s like to love someone so dearly, only to have them... _snatched_ away like drugs when your dear brother Ben becomes corporeal?” He turned to the back and hissed towards what Five assumed was his dead brother.

“Yeah. I think I have some idea.”

No one talked after that, except for when Klaus turned to the backseat and made small talk with ghosts. Five kept his eyes straight forward. Yeah, he knew what it was like to lose someone. He left the only person keeping him sane for years behind in a wasteland. He saw his family’s dead bodies. He killed people he didn’t even know over and over again until he didn’t know who he was. He lost himself in the chaos, and he hadn’t been able to get himself back.

“We’re here.” He announced, his voice gravelly, as they pulled into the motel. He turned to Klaus. “Alright, I’ll blink inside and kill the bastards, you’re backup. Alright?”

“Oh, no no no no. Not again. I’m not just some stupid liability, Five! I’m going with you. I was trained just like you, you know?”

Five let out a long breath. “Fine. Just...be careful, okay? I can’t lose you, too.” Before his brother could ask what he meant, he warped out of the car and landed on the sidewalk. Which room was Diego in? Didn’t matter. According to Klaus, the Handler would be there, and she always entered dramatically and spilled everything he needed to know.

The car door slammed and Klaus stepped up next to Five. “So who’s this handy woman?”

“The Handler. Leader of the Commission, basically. She’s…interesting.”

“I’m flattered, Five.” A voice came from behind the two brothers. They turned at the same time and Five found himself remembering all the times the horrible woman forced him to hold the gun to a screaming body. “Is this your bodyguard?” She gestured towards Klaus and took a long drag from her cigarette. Her stupid blonde curls blew in the wind and she laughed. He noticed a scar on the lower half of her face and smiled in satisfaction. It had probably been years since he’d left to her, even though it had only been days for him. Still, he hated that he had to see her again so soon after he thought he’d escaped.

Klaus began to say something, but Five cut him off. “Very funny. What do you want?”

“I want to kill your brother, and I will unless you follow my orders.” 

Five’s fists clenched. Klaus shot him a concerned look and placed a hand on his shoulder to keep him from doing something stupid. “Make it quick. And show him to us first, so we know he’s still alive.”

The Handler sighed and shook out her gloved hands, then laughed. “Always a negotiator. It’s a shame you broke your contract, or you would’ve been a valuable asset to the team. And you were, for a time.”

“Listen lady, we just want to make sure he’s okay.” Klaus tried. The Handler glared at him.

“Stay out of this. Although I do approve of your wardrobe.” She looked his brother up and down.

“Danke, bitch.”

The Handler’s smile faded fast and fueled a crazed grin on Five’s face. Sometimes he really loved his brother. 

Things were going too smoothly. Why hadn’t anyone tried killing them yet? Why was the Handler talking pointlessly? Unless…

The clicking of a gun’s safety echoed behind them and Five turned his head. And standing there were none other than Hazel and Cha-Cha, the second and third best assassins in the Commission. “Oh, shit.” He tried to teleport but remembered Klaus’s hand was still on his shoulder. Before he could even run or warn his brother, a shot rang in his ears.

It took him a minute to realize that Klaus hadn’t been shot, but Five had.

“Shit.”

…

_"You know, sometimes you can be insufferable." Delores laughed, taking a drink of her wine. Five only smiled._

_"Well, I did get you your favorite, so you owe me."_

_"Still, having wine doesn't change anything, dear."_

_Five's smile fell. "What do you mean?"_

_"You're still going to die someday. And so am I. I've loved my time with you, but this can't go on forever. Eventually, we'll both be destroyed." Her glass slipped out of her hands and Five jumped into action, cleaning her shirt. Delores looked up at him with a grateful but sad smile. "Five. Please stop fooling yourself."_

_"I know I'm going to die. In fact, sometimes I think it'll be easier than trying to get home. But you know better than anyone that we should just enjoy it while we have it."_

Five coughed and blood gurgled in his throat. Delores had been right after all. He was dying. He almost laughed, but the pain pulsing in his chest was too great to breathe, much less do anything else. 

He felt the blood in his throat, on his face, roaring in his ears, staining his hands as he drowsily registered the need to put pressure on the wound. His hands shook. His vision was blurring the sunlight above him, swirling it into a sort of portal. His thoughts were sluggish, but he managed to recall the irony of the situation. He was dying at the hands of his former co-workers while negotiating with his former boss for his brother’s life. He should’ve run when he felt something was off.

Someone was talking. “Five, no no no, come back, _please_ , COME BACK!”

He couldn’t. He just wanted to sleep. A darkness called to him and he leaned towards it. When he nudged himself towards the darkness, the pain went away.

But no. There was still so much to do. Help Vanya, save Diego, stop the apocalypse, say goodbye to Delores. Call Luther and Allison one last time. He forced himself back into his consciousness and screamed from the pure agony that wedged itself into his body the second he did. Klaus was above him, blurry but crying. His hands were covered in blood. Five’s blood. 

Maybe it would be better to die. Maybe he could just let his siblings handle the apocalypse so he could finally get some rest. And they would die soon enough anyways and join him. Then they could finally be happy. They wouldn’t have to worry about anything at all.

That would be so easy.

He let himself drift into the darkness to a symphony of screaming. He briefly wondered how Klaus would explain what had happened to Vanya and the others, as he felt the ground get soft beneath him.

And then he woke up, but not in front of a motel with Klaus screaming above him, fire coursing in his bones and blood all over him. Instead, he woke up facing a gray sky. The pain was gone. His hands were clean of blood. He could breathe.

Where was he?

Five made himself stand up and saw that he was in a forest, everything a shade of gray. There was a strange building in the distance, but otherwise there was just a leaf-ridden path. "Hello?" It didn't hurt to talk anymore. He didn't feel any of the lingering pain he'd always had in life. He didn't feel like he was going to collapse and die any minute. He felt...peaceful. And he was in his adult body again.

A bike bell rang and he looked up with a start to see a little girl riding it toward him. He backed out of the way, startled, and examined her striped dress and the flowers she held in her bike basket. Who the hell was she? Why was everything gray? 

"Why are you just standing there?" The girl asked him, stopping her bike.

"Excuse me?" He asked, a little offended. 

"Oh. You. I really should've sent you to Satan, but your brother begged me to put you here. He was so sweet, how could I turn him down? Oh, also your dad's here, and it would be plain monstrous to put him here and not you." The girl shrugged.

"I'm dead." Five wasn't an idiot. He could put two and two together. He felt himself slipping away, and woke up in this place. And why else would his dad be here, or the girl be talking about Satan? "Are you God or something?" 

"I guess you could call me that."

He'd never really believed in Christianity or Judaism or Islam or anything, to be honest. He'd always had this theory that the world had been created from gravitational forces and phenomena. Plus, no one had encouraged him to believe in much of anything at all, so he'd been left to make his own assumptions. 

And then it hit him. "Where's Ben?"

"Your brother? Following that weird guy around on the Earth. He's not fully there though, so you should be able to find him over there." She pointed to the building, and then began biking away before Five could say anything. 

Could he use his powers even when he was dead? Well, he had to try. He blinked into existence inside the building and saw it was some sort of barbershop. Pictures of his siblings lined the walls, and a picture of some man he'd never seen before. "Ben?" He called.

Before he'd disappeared, Ben and Vanya had been his closest friends. He remembered comforting Ben after missions and vice versa, reading with him at night, and setting up forts with him and Vanya. He'd missed them the most while he was gone. And finding out about Ben's death from a book was torture. But now he would finally see him again. "Ben!"

"Who...?" A man stepped out of the back room, looking just like Five had seen him in the theater. Tall, tan, wearing a black hoodie and black jeans. And he was staring at Five like he'd seen a ghost. Which, Five guessed he technically was. "I...Are you..."

It was so out of character that he felt almost disoriented, but he ran forward and hugged Ben around the middle. He felt tears building up but he refused to cry. He was already showing so much weakness. "I missed you."

"Me too, Five. Me too."

After a minute of peaceful hugging, Ben went rigid. "Holy shit. You died. What happened?!"

He opened his mouth to answer, when suddenly an intense pain covered his entire body again. He doubled over and bit back a scream. Shouldn’t pain have been left back on Earth? Everyone said heaven was painless, so what was going on? It felt like he was being sucked down as Ben yelled, and the bullet wound suddenly reappeared in his chest. His thirteen-year-old chest. He wasn’t in his own body yet again.

And then his eyes opened a second time and he was back.

“Ho….ly shhhhit.” 

This time, when his eyelids closed, he didn’t disappear into the forest. He simply took a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter was confusing or moved too fast. mostly i’m just setting it up for a great klaus scene. hope you enjoyed!


	4. found you just in time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> klaus is a badass but pays the price, diego is found, and five is reeling from the events

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it’s been a while! Vacation and all. Sorry if the next few chapters are confusing or anything, I’m getting out of my element with this lol. 
> 
> TW: gunshots, physical fighting, mentions of torture and kidnapping

**Klaus**

Klaus didn’t know exactly what he’d done, all he knew was that Five’s chest stopped rising and falling, Ben was screaming in his ear, and it was _so damn loud_. There were so many ghosts surrounding these people and he was not about to let his brother become another one of them. So the second Five fell to the ground, staring blankly at the sky and mumbling as blood fell from his mouth, Klaus went into panic mode. 

He didn’t register the Handler saying, “Well, now that Number Five is dead, I guess our business here is done! That was too easy,” or the guns’ safety being clicked on again, or the screaming coming from his own mouth as blood began coating his hands.

Klaus heard the blood roaring in his ears as he desperately pressed his hands over Five’s bullet wound. Tears blurred his vision. “No no no, stay with me….stay _with me_!” He wouldn’t lose his brother again. And he knew Five would be pissed if he died without even getting a fight. It had just been so quick and confusing that Klaus hadn’t had time to register anything but the deafening gunshot.

All he knew was that he was fucking desperate. He was screaming, Ben was screaming, the Handler was laughing. Five was dead. Klaus threw every single ounce of his power through his body and threw every bit of life inside his body into Five’s. And then, his hands glowed blue and Five’s eyes were open and that was all any of them needed to see. “Son of a bitch!” The woman who’d held the gun yelled, and began advancing towards the junkie. And, well, Klaus hadn’t been trained eighteen years for nothing.

“Ho....ly shhhhit.” Was all he said before he launched into the fight.

He didn’t have time to get over the shock of watching his brother die before a fist was slamming into his face. “Oh, we’re gonna play like that.” He muttered through a numbing pain in his mouth. He stood and got into the all-too-familiar fighting stance, hands by his face. “Bastards.”

And then he was flying through the air. His foot made an arc and came around to hit the woman in the head. She grunted, but didn’t fall. She swept her leg beneath Klaus’s and he fell backwards and hit his head on the ground. Hard. Stars exploded into his vision and he moaned as he rolled to his side. But these people weren’t taking his family away. So he forced himself to stand up and punched the woman once, twice, three times. 

Then someone grabbed his waist from behind and pulled him back. He screamed in incoherent rage as the woman punched him again and again. These were the assholes that had tortured him, he realized. Suddenly, an intense rage and adrenaline filled him and he began flailing wildly and kicking at the man holding him back. “Eat shit!”

He managed to get free and ran for the guns, but was stopped by his ankle being grabbed and yanked backwards, causing him to slam his face into the pavement. That time, he didn’t know if he could get up. But it didn’t matter. The gun was just inside of his reach and he yanked it over to him as his vision blurred. He didn’t need his vision to follow instinct, though. He’d never liked holding the guns or watching the enemh lines slowly fade away, but it was his duty. And the only way he could stay with Dave. So he’d done it. He’d regretted it every day the enemy ghosts trailed him and screaming in his ears. But as long as he had Dave, that was all he needed.

It was almost instinct to click off the safety and aim the handgun at the two torturers. The woman with the blonde curls began clapping slowly and talking, but Klaus couldn't care less about what she had to say. He aimed the gun precisely just as the man came running towards him and slapped it out of his hands. Klaus couldn’t help but laugh. These people had captured him and thought they’d succeeded in killing his brother, but they failed miserably and left the two of them to save their other brother. As long as he just killed them, Diego would be safe.

He had never been a violent person. Had never wanted to kill or hurt anyone. But hours upon hours of torture and fatal gunshots activated something in you that was thirsty for blood and vengeance. Plus, his time in Vietnam had taught him a few things. So as the man tackled him, Klaus sunk his teeth into the man’s shoulder and rolled out from under him. The pain disappeared as he grabbed the gun and, without hesitation, fired at the large man. He fell limp as the bullet embedded into his back. 

Klaus swiveled towards the woman and fired off a shot that landed in her forehead as she was advancing towards him. The woman with the blonde curls was still smiling, but the smile faded as a final bullet shot straight into her forehead.

The second he was sure everyone was reduced to ghosts, he ran to his brother. “Five! Shit, Five, wake up!” Klaus began shaking his shoulders as he suddenly became aware of his throbbing body. Everything hurt. But he would push through, because he had to. Because he was the only one who could save everyone.

What an ironic twist.

**Five**

The first thing that Five was aware of when he came to was that it didn’t hurt anymore. The painful sting in his chest that had been shooting up his spine was just...gone. 

He sat up groggily and tried to take in his surroundings. Klaus was sitting next to him on the road, looking over his own injuries. Hazel, Cha-Cha, and the Handler were lying on the road, face down and undoubtedly dead. Five felt a smile force itself onto his face. The woman who had ruined his entire life was finally, _finally_ , dead. And he would make sure it stayed that way.

He turned to Klaus. “What…happened?”

His brother snapped his head up and grinned, wide. “Well, good morning. Have a good sleep?” Klaus’s eyes were unfocused and almost haunted, which was strange.

Five rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, Klaus.”

“Oh, yeah, right, you died and I brought you back to life. New undiscovered power of mine. Ta-da!”

Oh yeah. He remembered that. It was still jarring to be back in his body, the solid ground beneath him, everything full of color. His body was tingling like there was something in him that was supposed to be dead and didn’t react kindly to being resurrected. It had just been weird. And terrifying. It was hard to convince himself that he’d died so fast. He felt bile rise in his throat but pushed it down. 

It was embarrassing how stupid he’d been. Whether it had been from drawn-out effects of his previous wounds or exhaustion, or if he’d just been plain stupid, he had let himself get killed. And yes, it had been good to see his brother again and have a moment of peace, but it was still an awful feeling. He felt the phantom pain of the bullet still lodged in his stomach. He tasted the blood that had risen in his throat. 

“I know that. I mean...how? The wound is gone, the two best assassins in the Commission and the Handler are dead. Did you do this?”

Klaus rubbed the back of his neck, almost sheepishly. “I was trained just like you, buddy. I—”

“Don’t call me buddy.”

“Right. Yeah, um, I killed them. Which is not fun by the way, their ghosts will not stop _screaming_ at me.” Five winced. He’d forgotten the price of killing for his brother. “And your ghosts? Damn. They’re loud as hell.” _And_ he’d forgotten the amount of livid ghosts Klaus had to deal with hanging around with Five.

But none of that mattered. Because Klaus had healed him, and brought him back to life. Somehow. “Thanks, by the way. For saving me. I’ll never forgive myself for being such an idiot.”

“Hey, it’s fine. I didn’t notice either. And anyways, I kind of had to heal you. Couldn’t have my little brother haunting me for eternity.” Klaus turned to his side, likely where Ben was standing, and laughed.

“Not your little brother.”

“In size, not in age. Now c’mon. Let’s go save Diego.”

…

Five’s balance was still wobbly from his previous wounds, and his chest itched from the ghost of pain. Still, he and Klaus hobbled along the bottom level of the motel looking for Diego through the windows. It was a slow process, but he didn’t want to split up. He was not going to admit that he was scared. What if Klaus left and the bullet wound returned? What if his brother’s powers were still holding him together, but he would fall apart if Klaus got out of range? So yes, Five was scared. He didn’t want to die. He had to protect his family. 

The Commission could return at any time. They had all the time in the world, as the Handler put it. Any second and an entire squadron could be chasing after them until they were both dead and didn’t come back again. Five knew how they worked, and he wasn’t eager to be on the receiving end of the gun. And he wasn’t sure how much help he would be in a fight after such a strange sensation. So he clung to Klaus’s side like a magnet and peered through the windows one at a time.

Klaus, on the other hand, was having trouble concentrating by the looks of it. His hands were clapped over his ears, and his gaze kept drifting until Five had to help him concentrate again. He seemed to be trying to hide from his ghosts. So, even though Five hated physical contact, he placed a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. At least to remind him that the ghosts wouldn’t hurt him. 

Five remembered when they were kids and Klaus disappeared from training. After it happened a few times, Five decided to follow him. The next few months before he jumped to the apocalypse, he stayed with Klaus in the mausoleum and comforted him as well as he could. He would never forget Klaus’s screams of terror. He wouldn’t let the ghosts get his brother. Not if he could help it.

“Don’t focus on them. Think happy thoughts.” Five mumbled, not used to being the caretaker. Most of the time, the roles were reversed between the two of them.

“Oh, happy thoughts. Don’t have much of those.” Klaus responded. His voice sounded strained, like he was trying to joke around but couldn’t help the fear in his words.

“Didn’t you say you met someone? Dave? Think of him.”

Klaus smiled sadly. “It’s not that easy. Good memories have a price, brother dear.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“You keep saying that.” Klaus looked over at him, hands slowly lowering to his sides. Maybe the ghosts were quieting down. “That you know what it’s like to lose someone, have bad memories. You want to talk about it?”

Five felt uncomfortable, like there was an itch just beyond his reach. He shifted on his feet and shook his head as the itch crept into his brain. Those words always made him feel strange. 

_You seem stressed. Want to talk about your latest slaughter over dinner?_

_I saw you walking around in the middle of the night. Want to talk about it?_

_You’re not on your killing game today, Five. Need to talk?_

No, no, and no. At least Delores somehow managed to care about him, while the Handler and his moron partners always seemed to just be trying to make small talk. He shook his head to Klaus’s request and pushed away the itching. No, he was fine. He did need any help, especially from his brother who needed more help himself.

Before Klaus could say anything else, the sound of a doorknob jiggling reached Five’s ears. He began running on his unsteady legs and stopped by each room to see where it got louder. 118, 119, 120...There! 

The doorknob was being jiggled like crazy, and the curtains were drawn tight. He smiled in satisfaction and prepared to jump inside as Klaus caught up with him. He blinked inside the room and straightened his jacket before turning to find the source of the noise.

And lo and behold, there was Diego. Bloodied, bruised, and with his hands tied behind his back, but still Diego. And he was attempting to open the door from his chair, with his bound hands. Five smirked as his brother caught sight of him and frowned.

“Took you long enough.”

“Looks like you had some fun.”

Blood leaked from a cut on Diego’s head, he had a nasty black eye, and his ankle was bent strangely, but he looked well enough. It hadn’t been too long, had it?

“Come on. We’re going home.”


	5. i’ve got a lot to say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> vanya attempts to call the others, five has a meltdown, allison and luther reconnect with the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, this au got way out of hand. i just figured if they stopped the apocalypse, the commission would obviously want to kill them and fix things, right? sorry if you don’t like it anymore, but i swear there’s only like 2 chapters left. hope you still like it, even though the chapters are getting worse
> 
> TW: i don’t think there are any, mild ptsd and a meltdown warning just in case

By the time they finally reached the gym, Five was very ready to fall asleep and forget any of the shit that just went down ever happened. Except the part with Ben, of course. That bit had been nice. Especially since, unlike his siblings, he hadn’t seen his brother in forty five years.

It had been way too long.

Klaus and Five helped Diego out of the car on his broken ankle. He also revealed a long cut on his wrist that he said he didn’t remember getting. Five brushed it off. Just another stupid torture method of Hazel and Cha-Cha’s. It was strange that they would hurt him while he couldn’t feel it. But then again, everyone at the Commission was a little strange. 

They went around the back and got in through the side door so no one would ask questions on the way to Diego’s room. Five noticed Vanya standing at the phone at the wall when the door swung open. He waved to her and she gave him a weak smile before turning back to her conversation. Klaus and Five helped Diego onto the bed, and Klaus grabbed the first-aid kit from under the bed. The latter wandered towards Vanya. He was still shaky on his feet from the fight that hadn’t been much of a fight. 

“...it’s just a family thing. My dad died last weekend, so my siblings and I are just...still taking it in. I’ll be back by next week, I promise.” Vanya was saying as he approached.

She paused as whoever was on the other side of the phone answered, then, “Okay. Thank you so much. Yes. Have a good day.”

Vanya hung the phone on the wall and sighed. She balanced herself by grabbing the counter, and turned to her brother. “How’d it go?”

Five rubbed the back of his neck. He really didn’t want to explain his untimely death and the following events of Klaus’s ghosts. He never wanted Vanya to worry about him. But he wasn’t fooling himself. He knew she had worried about him already every single day he’d been gone. “Well, we got Diego back. Klaus killed the assassins and the Handler, so we’re fine for now. There’s no telling when another squadron will notice the disturbance in the timeline and come after us, though. Unless…” _Unless he destroys them. Unless he sacrifices himself for the world._ “Never mind. How’s the wound?”

“Better. Klaus said it would heal soon.”

Five scoffed. “What does he know? I mean, he’s likely correct, but what does he know?”

Vanya cracked a smile, but it fell just as quickly as it appeared. “Neither of you were injured, were you?” Five shook his head, hoping it was true, and Vanya sighed in relief. It sounded as if she’d been holding her breath since they’d left. And if she had Diego’s powers, maybe she would have. 

“Have you called the morons yet?”

“Allison and Luther? No. I thought maybe...they didn’t want to talk to me.”

“Well, they sure as hell don’t want to talk to me after I left like that.”

Vanya bit her lip and a pained expression crossed her face. It was gone so quick, hidden beneath layers of brainwashed stoic expressions, that Five almost didn’t catch it. He knew maybe he should’ve used a different set of words. After all, he’d left a lot of times. And he knew his disappearance when he was thirteen had been hard on Vanya. He just didn’t think just the words could make her want to cry. 

“I’m sorry, I just meant—”

“I know what you meant.” Her voice was so quiet, but so harsh. As if she wanted so badly to believe it wasn’t his fault she was alone for seventeen years. But Five knew it was his fault. He knew it every single day in the apocalypse. He thought of it every time he heard Reginald’s voice in his head. He hadn’t listened. He had left. He had subjected his siblings to years of abuse and hadn’t even taken them with him.

“Maybe you should just call them.”

“Probably.”

Vanya met his eyes and conveyed so many emotions through her short glance. He swallowed, hard. _Your fault, your fault, your fault._

His sister picked up the phone and began dialing the number.

He didn’t leave her side.

_“Hello?”_

“Hi, this is Vanya Hargreeves. Could I speak to Allison please?”

_“Allison doesn’t live here, you know that.”_

“Yes, but...she said...her daughter? Isn’t she visiting Claire?”

Five turned to Vanya, brow furrowed. He mouthed, _who is it?_ She put her hand to the receiver and answered, _Patrick_. 

_”She tried, but she hasn’t finished her therapy yet. Kept babbling about how the end of the world is coming and she needed to say goodbye. Load of shit, right? I think she and her brother are staying in a hotel.”_

Vanya frowned. “I don’t think she’s very far off. I mean...the end of the world seems like it’s just around the corner.” Five heard Patrick laugh, sharp and short. His fists clenched. “Could you give me the name of the hotel? Or give Allison a message?”

The line went silent. And then played a tone.

The asshole had really hung up on her.

“Gah!” Five smacked the phone out of Vanya’s hands. The _audacity_ of that man! To just say his siblings were crazy, and not at his house, then hang up! It wasn’t just that, but all his frustrations over the years built up into one fit of rage. The Handler, the apocalypse, his stupid, stupid siblings and their stupid, meaningless lives! He grabbed a vase off the counter and chucked it across the room. It exploded into thousands of shining red shards and its glass rained from the wall.

“Shit, Five! What’s the big deal?!” Diego shouted. His voice was strained.

Those dickheads had tortured two of his brothers. He grabbed a plate and threw it against the wall. The feeling left a sort of euphoria in his mind.

“Five! It’s not that bad, we’ll just call a few hotels!” Vanya pleaded with him.

Vanya felt the need to plead with him. As if he was their father. He grabbed another plate and it shattered against the wall.

“Stop!”

Klaus had his stupid ghosts and his awful drugs and his worse childhood. Five wrapped his hands around a cup and screamed as he chucked it as hard as he could.

It collided with a framed embroidery, and both the frame and the cup exploded glass onto the floor. Diego yelled in rage

“ _Stop it!_ ”

Someone grabbed his face. He yanked away. His terrible life and terrible father and terrible abilities and _terrible_ temper! Small, shaking hands wrapped around his waist. He fought against them, but the truth was, he didn’t want them to let go. He needed Vanya. He needed anyone, really.

When he finally came to his senses and watched Diego kneeling agonizingly and beginning to clean the glass, he sunk to the ground. He’d just thrown a tantrum. Over a phone call. Because he was a child in a child’s body, so why shouldn’t he act like one?

Vanya was still grabbing him, though it was more like a hug. And Five really, really didn’t want to teleport his way out of another mess. So he simply walked to the wall and began picking up the shards. “I’m sorry.” He whispered to Diego. “I’m just frustrated.”

It was eerily silent in the apartment. The four siblings picked up the glass, piece by piece, for maybe an hour. Three of them fell asleep. Five sat back on his heels, still kneeling on the floor, and took a deep breath. He felt the torn stitches from when he’d been grazed by a bullet at the department store. Thankfully, he was most unharmed from everything that had happened in the last week. Except for scars and bruises, he felt fine. And after releasing his anger, his mind felt weightless. Unburdened.

So that was when he decided that, the next day, he was going to destroy the Commission headquarters, once and for all.

**Allison**

She should’ve known Patrick would say no. Even the end of the world wouldn’t sway his protectiveness over Claire.

But the thing was, Claire was her daughter too. And she had done wrong so many times, but she still deserved to say goodbye. Her child deserved a life where she didn’t have to be afraid of the press attacking her mother. Her child deserved a life where she could at least say goodbye to her mom.

And to do that, Allison had to finish therapy and file the legal documents. And in order to do _that_ , she and her siblings had to save the world.

After staying in a hotel for one night, Allison and Luther booked a flight back to the Academy the second Patrick denied her the right to see her daughter. But the flight didn’t leave until April 1st, the day the world was supposed to end. Even after pleading, begging, and bribing, the airport security denied them an earlier flight. Everything was booked, which was strange since there weren’t any holidays except for April Fool’s.

As long as she spent her last moments with Luther, she would’ve been willing to accept the fate of the world. Except, the end of the world never came. She and Luther did everything they had ever wanted to do on March 31st. At least, everything they could do in California. But on the day of the apocalypse, the day Five had warned them about, nothing happened.

The flight back was terrifying, because the two of them knew that the world could end any moment. But it never did. They stayed in a hotel near the airport, waiting for a fiery explosion that never was. Then they headed back to the Academy, only to find it empty and filled with bullet holes.

Then they’d checked Vanya’s apartment. Nothing. Then Diego’s. Everything.

Luther pushed open the door slowly, remembering what had happened the last time he’d trespassed in Diego’s room. It was late. Allison was the first to adjust her vision to the sudden darkness and found her four siblings. One on the bed, one on the couch, one in a sleeping bag on the floor, and the last one sitting on the window sill.

Five turned and jumped when he saw them in the doorway, then relaxed when he recognized them. Allison laughed loudly and short, then covered her mouth so she wouldn’t wake the others. “Five?”

“Allison?”


	6. got my hands full

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> allison and five make it to thhe commission and begin the sabotage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> almost done! epic showdown in the next chapter. hopefully you all enjoyed this wild ride, even though it was all over the place. i’m working on another series with tua romance, until my fixation on this show ends. i might have to abandon that series since i’m pretty much moving on :(

“Jesus. Are you all...okay?” 

Allison sat across from Five, cross legged. Luther stood at her side with a hand on her shoulder, but slowly sank to a sitting position when Five finished recounting the past few days to the two of them. He was getting tired of being asked that question. Even though he hadn’t told anyone—except Klaus, of course—about the worst part of the events. 

“We’re all fine, Allison, I’ve told you this. But I’m leaving.”

“What?! Why?!” Allison whisper-shouted, just as Luther said, “No way.”

“Unless you guys want to die at any point in time, I’m leaving. The Commission will just keep hunting us down over and over again unless I stop them. Once and for all.” He cracked his knuckles and stood. He’d re-stitched his bullet wound just before Allison and Luther arrived, and his headache was bearable enough. He just wished he hadn’t overreacted like a child the day before. Even if he didn’t know why he’d done it. It was just all getting to be too much for him, so he finally lashed out. Diego, Vanya, and Klaus probably thought he was insane. Which was why he wasn’t even going to try and ask for his help.

“Then I’m coming with you.” Allison stood and towered above him. He hated that she could look down on him in his short body. Even his adult body would probably be shorter than her since he’d been malnourished in the apocalypse.

“No. You don’t know a single thing about the Commission, or time travel, or anything! I’m going alone, and I’ll be back by tomorrow.” That was a lie. He was going to die, and he knew it.

“Five, we can’t let you go alone.” Luther tried. But Five wasn’t budging.

“Exactly. I’m going with you, whether you like it or not.”

He sighed and dragged his hands down his face. He knew they weren’t budging. Normally, he’d fight them until his voice gave out, but he wasn’t about to fight with them again. “Fine. But monkey man stays here.”

“Hey!”

Allison grabbed Luther’s arm. “Why?”

“He’ll attract too much attention. And he definitely won’t take kindly to time travel. Allison, you’ll blend in well enough. The Commission will definitely recognize me and Luther, though.”

“Then why are you going?”

He rolled his eyes. Were they really this incompetent? “We don’t have a briefcase. So I’m the only one who can get us there.”

Allison just crossed her arms. “Last time you time traveled, it didn’t work out well.”

He cringed. Right. He knew they’d bring that up. “Last time I time traveled, I wasn’t ready. I am now. I’ve been doing the equations, and I know exactly how to get us there. Just trust me.” He wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t trust him.

“Fine. But we’re at least letting Luther tell the others where we went.”

“ _Fine._ ”

“Fine!”

He didn’t bother with warning her about the side effects of traveling. She’d find out soon enough. And if she got knocked out, that was just one less liability to worry about. If not, she could help him fight. It was a win-win situation. So he grabbed her hand without a warning, and concentrated as hard as he could until he felt a tearing in the space-time continuum. God, it was a lot harder with two people.

“Wait, right now?!” Allison yanked her hand away and stumbled backwards.

“We should wait until they wake up.” Luther agreed.

Five groaned and rolled his eyes. Of course she wasn’t ready. “The sooner the better. Unless you want them to find us?”

“Just...give me a second. To prepare.”

He felt his anger bubbling over the edge. He could just as easily leave without her. But some part of him was done with running away from his family. And as much as he hated to admit it, he knew Allison was a valuable asset in battle. He would need her help if he wanted to make it back alive. Which, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to or not. As long as the apocalypse was averted, why did he need to be there?

Truth be told, the only thing keeping him alive for the past fifty years was the knowledge that his siblings would be dead if he didn’t save them. But sometimes even that motivation had faded. Usually Delores was there to talk him out of the intrusive thoughts, but she was back at the mansion. He hoped she was okay, that Mom was taking good care of her. After all, she had held together his sanity when he was alone all that time. 

Allison snapped Five out of his thoughts when she grabbed his hand. He shied away from the touch, then realized she was only doing it so she could time travel with him. “I’m ready.” She breathed, giving a solemn nod to Luther. The ape man looked like he was going to cry. But why? It wasn’t like anything would happen to Allison. She could rumor her way out of anything.

“Alright.” He turned to Luther. “Tell them we went to save them. No more follow ups. They won’t understand anyways.”

Luther opened his mouth to respond, but shut it again when Five began opening a portal again. He felt something like electricity crackling inside him as his energy was forced into the portal. It felt just like it had when he was thirteen, and when he’d jumped back to Reginald’s funeral. But despite his practice, it still took all his energy and focus to make sure his equations would drop him exactly where he needed to go. He cried out as he felt himself being sucked into the mercy of time. He barely felt Allison’s hand on his shoulder anymore.

And then they were gone.

…

The floor rushed up to meet Five as he fell from the ceiling, right into the hands of the Commission. His knees buckled under the sudden weight but he was standing within seconds. They had one purpose, and they would fulfill it before anyone caught them.

He found Allison sprawled on the floor and groaning a few feet from him, so he grabbed her arm and hauled her up. Surprisingly, his child body still possessed enough strength to lift a fully grown woman. Allison found her feet and gave him a bewildered look. “How do you do that all the time?”

Five rolled his eyes. He didn’t do it all the time, only a few times. Plus, they didn’t have time for small talk. They had a job to do. “Later. Just follow me. Incapacitate anyone who gets in our way.”

He looked around and adjusted to his surroundings quickly. The building was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside, but he knew it well enough to know how to get to the Handler’s office. There, he would steal her grenades, use some of his own he’d managed to acquire back in 2019, and blow up the entire building. Again. But this time, he would get the Infinite Switchboard, and then the rest of the wretched place. 

They began running through the hallways, Allison tailing at Five’s heels. No one appeared for the first few minutes, so the only noise was the buzzing of the lights and their running footsteps echoing down the halls. He dragged his sister around the corner and pulled her along, mostly just to have someone to ground him. Time travel messed with the mind. And every time he did it, he was reminded of the first time, when they were dead. He just needed someone to anchor him to the world, to remind him where he was and who he was with. So he gripped her arm, hard, but she didn’t complain. He had no idea what time they’d landed, so maybe everyone was on lunch?

It was too much to hope. Two agents emerged from a room at the end of the hallway and immediately caught sight of the siblings. The woman gasped and reached for the security button, but never made it. Five blinked over to her and tackled her to the ground. Her partner, a short man, yelled in alarm. As Five grabbed fhe knife from the back pocket of his uniform, his sister whispered in the man’s ear. 

“I heard a rumor...you forgot we were ever here.”

Well, that was certainly more effective than slitting a woman’s throat and trying to hide the body in their short amount of time. Still, the cameras would see them no matter what, so there was no point. He finished the job as the man walked away, and dragged the woman’s body into a maintenance closet. Sirens began blaring within seconds. He was honestly surprised they hadn’t noticed he and Allison earlier.

“Come on, look for double doors that say ‘The Handler.’” Five began running again. Allison gave him a strange look, but didn’t ask questions. for that, he was grateful. He didn’t know how he would even begin to explain the Commission’s sociopathic system.

And, there it was. Hundreds of running footsteps and panicked yelling in the hallways as everyone who wasn't trained to fight evacuated. Meanwhile, a dozen soldiers in the typical red gas masks appeared in front of the siblings, brandishing guns. Five was almost grateful for the chance at yet another fight, at his normal. It was getting too chummy around the apartment anyways.

He immediately blinked to the nearest few soldiers as they began firing at him. He only had time to hope Allison had found cover before he began using his old skills. He yanked one gun out of the soldier’s hands and bashed him in the head with it as another soldier swept their gun beneath Five’s feet. He fell backwards but blinked behind the squadron before the soldier fired at empty ground.

A few of them were aiming at Allison, but she was holding her own. She threw one over her back, punched one until they fell, and rumored another into killing two others. Once he saw she could fight for herself, he turned back to the soldiers firing at him at random. He jumped around and laughed as they tried to aim for him, only to shoot bullets down the hallway. More footsteps sounded from behind them, and more soldiers would likely be there within minutes. He had to get to the Handler’s office.

He used the gun he’d stolen and shot two of them before turning and bolting. “Five! Where are you going?” Allison shouted. She was running behind him, which meant that squadron had been taken down.

“I’m finishing this. You can take care of yourself, right?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Then what’s the problem?! Meet me here and we’ll blink out before I blow the hallways!” Maybe the plan was iffy, but it was all he had at that point.

He began sprinting faster than he ever remembered going. Maybe his smaller body was better for some things. 

Someone was following him, he knew that much. Sounds of fighting sounded from the hallway where he’d left Allison, but no screams of agony. That was good. He turned right and was greeted by a few terrified agents. They must’ve been analysts. He scoffed. Simple.

He launched into a tornado kick when he was in range of the first man, knocking him sideways to the ground. One of them, deciding to be brave, ran towards him with an incoherent battle cry, but he blocked their punch and returned it with one of his own. They fell backwards as he slammed the last remaining woman into the ground with a throw over his back. With that done, he continued down the hall, reading the signs on every door. 

One more turn, and he was home free. Her office would be the first door on the right, he would grab all the weapons he needed, and then…

Ka-boom.

It was almost relieving to know the Commission would finally leave him and his siblings alone. But he still had to kill for them. They still turned him into a killer, a psychopath. No amount of grenades would change that. But at least he could spare his family from the same fate, and their inevitable deaths. Those thoughts kept him propelling through the twists and turns, until he was met by another squadron. This time, there were way more guns trained at his forehead.

He could’ve really used Allison, which he hated fo admit.

The guns began firing and he decided to surpass it for the moment and blink into the Handler’s office. She wasn’t inside, of course,because Klaus had killed her. He’d thought maybe she would’ve been replaced, since who knows how long it had been for the Commission since the incident. He ran to the back and began grabbing her antique grenades, and a hunting rifle for good measure. The door opened and the squadron came inside, but he was gone and running to the Infinite Switchboard before he could get shot. 

A wicked grin crossed Five’s face. He would finally get his revenge on everyone in the wretched company. He pushed open the door to the key to the entire place, and froze. Because there, sitting at the first chair, was A.J. Carmichael.

Well, shit.


	7. you messed me up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> five and allison are badass, and five makes a crucial decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little surprise—two chapters in one day! sorry for any mistakes in previous chapters, i don’t edit these so i can get them out fast.
> 
> TW: explosions, blood, gunshots, physical fighting

**Allison**

She had never used her power so many times in a row since she was a teenager and wanted everything to herself. It was nostalgic and terrifying at the same time.

Pretty much in Allison’s life could be altered just by uttering a few words, which was how she’d gotten a husband, an amazing career, whatever role she wanted, anything. She could kill someone just by telling them to die. Which she seemed to be using a lot more as agents from all over the Commission began surrounding her.

_I heard a rumor you shot your friend in the head._

_I heard a rumor you ran away._

_I heard a rumor you killed your team._

It was almost too easy, and that was what scared her. It was too similar to the white eyes on her daughter, on Patrick, on _Luther._ She had been so stupid to do that to her own brother. She had just been so desperate for attention and adoration. So desperate for someone to love her, since her father certainly didn’t. His white eyes and hitched breath would haunt her for the rest of her life.

But it wasn’t the time for reminiscing. She had a job to do. So she surged through the crowds of agents and soldiers. A punch here, a kick there, a few rumors just in case. She could more than take care of herself, but that wasn’t what she was worried about. Five should’ve been blowing up something by then, but she hadn’t heard a single explosion. Truth be told, she didn’t exactly want to blow up the Commission, but she had to protect Five and her siblings. If her older brother said the only way to do that was killing, then bring out the guns. Whatever it took to right her many wrongs.

Someone grabbed her wrists and she used their momentum to throw them over her head. Another person shot at her, and she dodged the bullets and fell to the ground, yanking their feet off the ground. She stood, brushed off her clothes, and threw a roundhouse kick at an advancing agent. More shots began firing at a rapid speed, but she had been trained enough to know how to get out of their paths. “I heard a rumor you shot everyone in the hallways except for me.”

People screamed as Allison ducked. In a matter of minutes, the floor was slick with blood and filled with bodies. She grimaced. She hated killing people, but it was the only way to protect her family. Maybe that was how Five had felt all those years working there. She and Luther had always been so mad at him for shooting innocent people, but maybe there was never another option. He was just trying to protect them. 

Allison began running again once the last agent was down, and headed for where she’d seen Five running. She could at least clear the hallways so he had a straight path to wherever it was he needed to go. Plus, it would make it easier to get back to Diego’s apartment if they were together.

She briefly wondered if her other siblings were okay, right as another squadron appeared in the hall and began shooting. How many of them were there?!

A woman in a blue dress ran past, and as Allison ducked to the floor, and pulled the woman down with her. She screamed, but Allison shushed her with a rumor. “I heard a rumor you found Number Five and protected him.”

The lady’s eyes went white, and she began walking through the agents calmly. They didn’t shoot at her, which gave Allison a chance to begin fighting.

She just hoped everyone was okay.

**Five**

Five was not okay.

Well, physically, he was, but definitely not emotionally. Because he was facing the fish man himself, A.J. Carmichael, who had experimented on him and forced him to become a sociopathic monster. He had destroyed Five’s life even more, no matter how much he always told himself he only killed for his siblings. Some part of him enjoyed it, if only because Carmichael had crafted him into the perfect instrument for destruction.

The fish-man turned in his chair dramatically, his hands folded and resting in his lap. “Ah, Number Five. I’ve been expecting you.”

Five felt his fists clenching so hard they shook. His vision was practically red as he glared at Carmichael’s horrible, blank fish eyes. Oh, how he wanted to smash the glass with his bare hands and crush the fish under his schoolboy shoes. Maybe the part of him that wanted to do that was the same part of him that Carmichael had turned into a killer, along with the Handler. But she was already dead. So all he had to do was destroy the Commission, and he would finally get revenge for his ruined life. 

“Yeah, well you’re about to not expect anything.” Harold Jenkins, the Handler, and now Carmichael. How many people would he have to go through before the apocalypse was finally over? “You’re dead.”

“But am I? What if I offered you a deal?”

Five scoffed, craning his head back to look at the ceiling and gather himself. He was being undignified. He needed to calm down so he could kill the guy slowly and torturously. “No deal can reverse what you did to me.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.” Five snapped his head down to glare at the fish so fast that he almost got whiplash. “What if I could give you a second chance? Go back in the timeline to when you traveled to the apocalypse and...reverse it?”

How much of an idiot did this guy think Five was? No one would risk messing up the timeline that bad. At least, no one at the Commission. And even if Carmichael could do that, he wouldn’t risk losing any trace of his best assassin. No, Five had affected the timeline too much with that one decision. No one would risk messing that up, because it might destroy the entire space-time continuum. Who knows, maybe the Commission would go up in flames years earlier without their best assassin there to take the most difficult tasks. 

Five laughed. “Do you think I’m a moron?”

“No, which is why I’m offering. Think about it. You could have a normal childhood, a normal life. When you’re ready, we’ll collect you and use you as our assassin for five years, without the DNA tampering. You’ll have a regular life, with only a short time with us.” He could hear the small desperation in Carmichael’s voice. Typical that the guy would offer Five anything in exchange for his life. He was always a coward, especially when it came to death. 

But, even if he wasn’t lying, would Five even take it? The chance to have a “normal” childhood was never a chance he got. He’d been stolen from his birth mother and trained to be a superhero, a tool. Anywhere he went, he was always just a convenience. Never a person. Still...how great would it be for him to be able to finish his childhood surrounded by Vanya, Ben, and Mom? Encouraged by the people who loved him instead of searching desperately for their bodies in a fiery wasteland?

He wouldn’t have flashbacks anymore, or stupid temper tantrums in Diego’s apartment, or have to fight off assassins in his own home. He wouldn’t only be good for killing. Maybe he could move out of the Academy and go to college, do something worthwhile. Maybe he could save Ben. 

But then...that meant Vanya would never learn about her hidden powers. Five and Reginald were the only ones who knew about them, and Reginald was dead. But if he reversed his decision, he wouldn’t remember. And what about Klaus’s time travel trip and his boyfriend? Five wouldn’t take away his brother’s only chance to be happy for once. And Allison? She might never have Claire, or marry Patrick. Who knows what could happen if he changed such a vital thing?

He wouldn’t do that to his family. No matter what. And besides, the whole thing was just a chance for Carmichael to stay alive.

“I would never do that.”

Carmichael shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Before he could blink, he heard a gun firing. No no no, he wouldn’t do that again. He would not let himself be killed again, this time when he couldn’t be saved. His eyes squeezed shut. He screamed, loud, but when he looked down, there wasn’t a bullet embedded in his chest. Instead, a woman in a blue dress was standing in front of him, her arms out. He gasped in pure relief as the woman fell sideways to the floor. 

Then he blinked behind Carmichael and switched his gun with a broken wire from the switchboard. “Gah!” Carmichael turned and tried to fire his gun, only to find Five holding it. 

“That’s one badass wire.” He remarked snarkily, and then slammed the gun down onto Carmichael’s glass tank.

It shattered satisfyingly, and the fish flew to the ground, flopping uselessly. Five picked Carmichael up by his tail, and then flung him against the far wall. He would leave the fish to explode with the rest of his colleagues.

Five spared one glance at the woman on the ground with a sympathetic frown, then pulled the pin on the grenade and blinked out of the room. He was far enough down the hallway that the explosion didn’t injure him again. Then he began running, grabbing the hunting rifle from where he’d left it sitting against the outside wall of the Handler’s office. Footsteps pounded down the hallway, and he shot the four agents that appeared before they could take another step.

He dropped a second grenade in the next hallway, full of analysts, and blinked to the next one. He saw Allison finishing off the last soldier, and ran towards her. “Allison!”

She turned towards him quickly. “Five! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” Again, only physically. The thought still tormented him—what if Carmichael really had restored his childhood? He shook it out of his brain. “We need to go. I’m pretty sure more advanced troops will be sent after us since we’ve wiped out the others.” He glanced at the hundreds of bodies on the ground. “Nice work, by the way.”

His sister just grimaced. “I don’t know how you do this all the time.”

He didn’t want to have to explain the DNA of psychopaths residing inside of him, so he left it at that. The siblings began running, to blow up the next hallway. Five dropped a grenade, grabbed Allison’s hand, and blinked away just as a few of the best assassins began running after them. Only one of them rounded the corner when the explosion was finished.

Unfortunately for them, he knew this assassin. One of the top of her class, and very well trained. He knee Allison wouldn’t last a minute against her. “Run. I’ll hold her off.” Five passed his sister the grenades, and she gave him one last look before sprinting away. The assassin, Beta, didn’t even bother shooting at her. 

“Well well well, if it isn’t Number Five. We’ve been tracking you.”

“Well, isn’t that sweet. Let’s get this over with, shall we?”

He immediately blinked behind her and bashed her over the head with the rifle. That didn’t do much. She turned and shot at him just as he blinked to the other side of her. That’s when his powers chose the oh-so-convenient moment to stop working. “Shit.” He mumbled under his breath. _Guess we’ll have to do this the old fashioned way._

He reverted to his best technique—a tornado kick that knocked Beta sideways. She grunted, but stood right back up and threw a hooked punch at his face. He managed to dodge and thrust the space between his thumb and index finger into her throat. He must’ve been tired, because he didn’t get the reaction he wanted. She simply stumbled back, then threw herself at him with a hook kick. His head was thrust to the ground, where he swept her legs.

Curse his stupid kid body.

She only lurched back again, then brought her heel down on his chin. He bit back a scream of pain and stoof again, putting his weight on his other foot. An explosion rocked the building behind them. He knew it couldn’t take much more damage. _Nice, Allison._ She chose to drop the grenade at the main support beams, from the sounds of it.

Five’s leg still throbbed in a fiery pain, but he managed to elbow Beta in the face, then brought his knee up to her nose twice before throwing her to the ground. He didn’t know how much longer the building would last. He didn’t have time to finish the job, so he simply ran. Or, limped. He couldn’t put weight on the leg she'd stomped on yet.

“Allison!” Smoke appeared in the hallway and only got thicker as he limped through. She must’ve blown it up around that area. 

A dark figure lied on the ground, and made his way to it just to be sure it wasn’t his sister. 

Only, surprise surprise, his luck was awful.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> five and allison make it back home, where the others are waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: ptsd, injuries

**Five**

“Allison! Allison!”

Five’s leg continued to sting with fresh pain, the fires from the explosions began spreading, the building was slowly crumbling, and _dammit_ Allison, this is _not_ the time! Even worse, the ash falling from the ceiling was all too familiar, and Five’s mind was all too naïve. 

“Dammit, dammit, dammit…” 

He should’ve never left her alone. He’d only been able to escape the explosions early because of his powers, so of course she wouldn’t be able to get away fast enough. And of course he was stupid enough to believe she would be able to. Because everything he did seemed to be decreasing in thinking and increasing in spontaneous, last minute decisions. Saving Diego and getting killed, smashing his brother’s belongings because he needed to vent, bringing Allison on a suicide mission. At least she was still breathing, which he made sure of again.

There was no way he could lift her with his bad leg. He would have to blow up the briefcase room a second time, rush back, and take her home. He had to give his powers time to recharge, but there were still two grenades to use. There was no time for resting. He had to keep going. Seemed like a running theme in his life.

So he grabbed the grenades from his sister’s still hand and limped as fast as he possibly could to the briefcase room. No one was there of course, because everyone had either been evacuating or fighting the siblings. He snatched the nearest one he could find that looked operational and prayed. The grenade fell to the ground after he pulled out the pin, and then he mustered every but of strength he had and jumped as far as he could. 

He immediately stumbled to the ground when weight fell on his bad leg, but at least it was healing quickly. It would just leave a nasty bruise. 

And for maybe the tenth time that week, he clutched the briefcase as an explosion blew his eardrums out. He would probably have permanent ear damage after the day’s events, but he hadn’t had time to worry about that, and he still didn’t. He would toss the last grenade where Allison was waiting, and they would leave before they had a chance to gain more shrapnel wounds. 

Things had gone smoothly until the end, but at least they would finally escape.

Except, again, he had the worst luck in the world.

“Oh, you’re not getting away that easily.” Came a voice from behind him. Beta. He groaned, thinking maybe he should’ve just finished the job earlier instead of running away. Like the coward he was.

Five managed to get to his feet. This time around, he wouldn’t be able to rely on his kicks, which was unfortunate. Instead, he relied on the briefcase that he smashed into her face. “Agh!” She fell back, but stood immediately and threw a punch at his face that never got a chance to hit him. He ducked underneath her hand and desperately wished he wasn’t so tired, so he could throw his trademark witty comments at her.

Maybe that was a stupid wish, but he didn’t really care.

He didn’t have time to deal with this woman. He would’ve blinked back to Allison, but he didn’t want Beta to follow him again. She was probably the last person left standing in the entire building, because of Allison and the grenades, and he desperately wished she was dead like everyone else. She said something, but his ears were too damaged to make out what it was.

He threw a hooked punch and made contact, which hurt his hand but was worth it. She fell to the ground long enough for him to return the favor and slam his heel into her knee with a crazed smile. Then he hit her over the head with the briefcase until she was out cold. _Finally._

Five began limping quickly back to Allison as his mind threw him continuously back into the apocalypse. He couldn’t tell if he was still running through a building or on a broken road, dragging his wagon behind him. All he knew was that he had to get back to somewhere, and he couldn’t stop. Something groaned above him and he was thrust back into the Commission building with a pained gasp. Pushing the apocalypse to the back of his mind, he ran towards Allison’s still limp form. He didn’t want to jinx anything, but they were almost out of the woods.

“Allison, wake up. Please.” He hated the tears that were evident in his voice. He didn’t know which version of her was correct—the ash-covered woman in all black, or the one that had blood smeared on her cheek and a yellow shirt and jeans. He felt the tears on his face but didn’t care anymore. “ _Allison!_ ”

Her eyes snapped open with a gasp and he grabbed her hand, a sad smile covering his face. He was going to get them home. He pulled the pin from the grenade and grabbed the briefcase and his sister’s arm. “Five.” She croaked, her eyes pleading.

“We’re okay.” He wasn’t exactly sure of that anymore. All he knew was that it was finally over for the people that had ruined his life, and that was enough to keep him awake.

The two of them disappeared in a blinding flash of blue, and the apocalypse disappeared.

**Klaus**

Once the siblings were over the initial shock of learning Five and Allison’s whereabouts, Klaus finally had time to relax. Of course he was worried about his brother and sister, but they could hold their own. They would be back any second, and Five would demand a cup of coffee as Allison hugged Luther like he was her lifeline. Everything would work out, because it always did. And also because he couldn’t stand to see another dead sibling.

“They’ll be fine.” Klaus turned and smiled up at Dave with tears in his eyes. He’s finally gotten him back, and it was well worth the other ghosts screaming his name. As long as Dave was there, no one else mattered. Even Ben was warming up to him quickly.

“Yeah, I know, but it would be such a shame to have them haunting me for eternity. Ben is enough.”

Dave laughed as Ben yelled, “Hey!”

He glanced up and saw Luther shaking the floor by pacing and fiddling with his fingers, Diego tossing a knife over his hands and glaring at Luther, and Vanya biting her nails. She used to do that a lot when she was waiting for Five’s return when they were kids. She was probably feeling the same thing she was back then. Waiting so desperately for her one confidant to return valiantly and make everything okay. Klaus just wished he could help her somehow.

That’s when a bright flash made every single one of them jump. When the spots faded from Klaus’s eyes, he looked up to see Five hugging his knees and mutteing loudly, and Allison sprawled on the floor and covered in blood. Well, that was definitely not good.

“Allison!” Luther yelled, thundering toward the woman. His sister lifted her head and smiled up at Luther. 

“I’m okay. Not my blood.” Even as he signed in relief, Klaus noticed the pain in Allison’s voice. She was obviously hurt, but maybe not as fatally as they’d originally thought. Her voice was also louder than normal. 

Vanya ran over to Five and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Five? You okay?” When her brother didn’t respond, Vanya looked up at Klaus with fear in her eyes. “What’s wrong with him? Did he get hurt?”

Klaus stood quickly, just as Dave said, “PTSD attack.” Of course he and Dave would know about those the most. He remembered the nights they’d spent holding each other in secret as the bombs rained around them. 

He was quick in reaching his two siblings, and waved a hand in front of Five’s face. Yeah, definitely PTSD. Klaus had seen enough from Dave and Five to know what was going on. “Hey, Fivey, you’re not in the apocalypse, okay? You’re in Diego’s apartment with Klaus. We’re all alive.”

No matter how many times it happened, seeing Five’s tear-stained face turn towards him shattered his heart every time. Especially when Klaus noticed the familiar look in his eyes. He wasn’t really seeing his brother. How had he been triggered in the first place? “You’re not real.” Five stated shakily, but with so much confidence that Klaus almost believed it himself. 

“I’m real. I should know, buddy.” He placed a hand on Five’s chest. His heartbeat was so rapid that it was like putting a hand on a running engine. “Breathe with me, okay? In for four seconds, hold for seven, out for eight.”

Vanya looked over at him, confused but thoughtful. Five’s breathing began to slow as he listened to his brother’s advice. Slowly but surely, the others began to trickle over as soon as they made sure Allison was okay. She had apparently hit her head pretty hard when she was knocked back from an explosion, but she hadn’t been hurt by anyone. Klaus made everyone stand back from Five until his eyes finally focused and the tears stopped flowing.

“The...explosions at the Commission…”

Klaus nodded, realization flooding over him. The ash and fire from the grenades must have made him think he was back there. “You’re okay now. Are you hurt?” Vanya asked, scooting closer and Klaus moved back.

“My leg, but it’s just bruised. Tired.”

Diego looked over at his living ouija board of a brother and raised his eyebrow. They all knew Five would hide injuries until he collapsed from them which had become evident from their training as kids. And with everything he’d been through, there was bound to be something wrong with him other than a bruised leg. Klaus moved forward and grabbed the first-aid kit from its waiting spot on the ground.

Yeah, Five was definitely downplaying it. Something was definitely wrong with his leg, other than a nasty bruise. Klaus wasn’t sure if it was broken or not, all he knew was that everyone was alive...well, except for Ben.

They were all safe. The Commission was gone. The apocalypse was over. And they could finally, _finally_ breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we’re finally finished! thanks to everyone who read, commented, and gave kudos. i know this wasn’t my best work, but it was really fun to write and i hope you enjoyed it. this also marks the end of my umbrella academy obsession, so i likely won’t post anymore from this fandom unless i continue the “happy together” series. have a great day!


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